Recent Developments of a Personal Nature
by E Salvatore
Summary: THE BLACK TAPES PODCAST: Alex and Doctor Strand aren't very good at keeping things professional. Here's a look at how their personal life might spill over into the show once they finally move past the flirting and bickering and flirty bickering.


**RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF A PERSONAL NATURE**

 **Alex and Doctor Strand aren't very good at keeping things professional. Here's a look at how their personal life might spill over into the show once they finally move past the flirting and bickering and flirty bickering.**

* * *

It starts small – just a few slip-ups, really. The occasional "be reasonable, _Alex_ " that makes it into an episode. Exasperated huffs followed by " _Richard_ , you can't have an answer for _everything_ -" while they discuss cases on-air.

And then there's his latest book, and the dedication that sets Twitter on fire: _for Alex, the woman who constantly challenges me to imagine the impossible._

Next comes a flood of biblical proportions: the show is spammed, for lack of a better term. Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit – they're used to that, have learned to expect a certain level of crazy from their online fans and it's somewhat endearing, really. But then the phones won't stop ringing, their mail gets dropped off in overflowing bags and they find that for the first time ever, less than half of their messages are death threats.

Nic estimates that a good 65% of them are, in fact, merely variations of the same old question: _are Alex and Doctor Strand dating_?

And so, late one night while they're putting together the latest episode, Alex decides to release this short message:

"In the interest of transparency and full disclosure, Nic and I have decided that it is best that I inform our listeners of a recent development. This is a personal matter and one I would rather not address, but we've come to the decision that it would be unethical for me to withhold such information. So: Doctor Strand and I are pursuing a personal relationship. I can assure you now that this will _not_ influence our work. This is the only statement we will issue on this matter and we thank you in advance for respecting our privacy. The Black Tapes Podcast returns later this week with a new episode."

And that, as they say, is that.

* * *

"Working on this show has taught me that in certain cases, we do not make the active decision to bring our work home with us. Some things simply invite themselves over, like unwanted houseguests of a particularly shady nature. I guess I just never thought they'd crash a party not even my mother was invited to."

"What I am about to share is very personal to Doctor Strand and me, and I must admit that we considered simply keeping this to ourselves. But it felt hypocritical, in a way. Every story we've told on this show has been personal to someone out there and the only thing that has ever kept us from broadcasting the painful details of some of those stories has been the lack of written consent and Nic's aversion to us risking a lawsuit."

"So I don't see why we should treat this case any differently, especially since it contains information you'll find vital to our ongoing investigation on the Tall Men."

" _Alex, I just received your message. Is everything alright?"_

" _Can you meet me at my office? I just printed our photos."_

" _And?"_

"The past few years haven't done much to cure Doctor Strand of his skepticism. I struggled, in that moment, to find the proper words to convey the gravity of this matter, to convince him that this was serious."

" _The shadows, Richard - they're in all of the pictures."_

"Turns out, that was all I needed to say. Doctor Strand arrived a short while later, after I had enlisted Nic's help to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Nic – _and_ Strand – saw the shadows as clearly as I did, and found it equally as disturbing. As of this episode, I can only tell you what little we know and it is, as usual, insanely frustrating."

"The pictures were in no way tampered with. They were taken on my phone by a helpful courthouse clerk, and I had personally printed them out on my own computer. Just to make sure, we sent them to our usual contacts and had four individuals verify that these were authentic. Next, we compared them to previous appearances of the shadows and there is no doubt, in any of our minds, that these are the same Tall Men I was introduced to all those years ago, when Doctor Strand first told me about the Torres family."

" _You're not going to write this off as a coincidence, are you?"_

" _Let's not get ahead of ourselves –"_

" _They were at our_ wedding _, Richard!"_

"The situation was tense; there's no denying that. Nic seemed torn between hiding from the outside world and creepy shadows, or hiding from the two of us as Strand and I stared each other down. And then, Strand… well, he hesitated. I can count on one hand the number of times that has happened. And he _did_ look pretty shaken."

" _It_ is _troubling, I'll admit. And no, I won't try to write it off as a coincidence; that would be rather insulting to you, wouldn't it?"_

"Very _insulting."_

" _We'll look into it, Alex. I promise."_

"As you can imagine, we're _still_ looking into it. We'll keep all of you updated, if we ever find anything to update you on."

"The Black Tapes will be right back. Stay with us."

* * *

"This past weekend, Doctor Strand and I flew out to visit the abandoned mansion Simon Reese was found in two weeks ago. Simon, as you'll recall, had somehow managed to break out of the asylum where he is serving a life sentence for the murders of his parents. The authorities managed to track him down within three days. When cornered by the police, Simon willingly and peacefully agreed to return to the asylum, going so far as to claim that he was just on his way back, anyway. I actually spoke to Simon on the phone yesterday."

" _There's been talk of moving you to a more secure facility."_

" _There's no need for that. I had an errand to run, that's all."_

" _An errand?"_

" _You know what I mean, Miss Reagan. Or is it Missus Strand now? Congratulations."_

" _Who – who told you that?"_

"Simon has no way of contacting the outside world; none of the patients are allowed access to the Internet, so there's no way he's been listening to the show. As far as I know, they don't even get the paper. And it's not like this would have made the headlines. But Simon, as we all know by now, has a way of knowing things."

" _Alex, Alex, Alex. You're letting him get to you, you know. So obvious, right there for you to see if only you'd open your eyes… then again, you're not the one keeping them closed. Did you like my drawings? I know you went to see them on Saturday."_

"Again, no one had informed Simon of our visit to the mansion."

" _So you admit to drawing those symbols?"_

" _Symbols? We both know what those are. I drew Devil's doors and now they're open- wide open – open to all. Now we wait. They're co-o-o-ming."_

"The call ended then. They usually end once Simon starts singing. I must admit – if I'd had that conversation with him _before_ we went to see the mansion, maybe Strand and I wouldn't have stayed past sunset."

"I know – checking out an abandoned mansion at night? That's amateur hour. But after years of doing this, I like to think that I've gotten over things that go bump in the dark. And I _have_. But what happened that night – I still don't have the words for it."

" _Where's your ring?"_

" _What?"_

" _Your wedding ring, Alex – you're not wearing it."_

" _Of course I am, you know I never… Richard, I had it on when we came in."_

"I _did_ have it on when we entered the house; I'm absolutely certain because I've never taken my ring off. But sure enough, my flashlight revealed a hand free of any jewelry. That's when we heard it, the faintest sound of something rolling down the stairs and eventually landing on the ground with a metallic _clink_. The sound echoed off the empty walls of the house. Strand thinks this is unnecessary and very Ghost Adventures of me, but Nic and I managed to enhance the audio and I'll play it for you now."

" _-had it on when we came in… did you hear that?"_

" _Of course I heard that."_

"In any other scenario, I might have laughed. Strand look quietly resigned, absolutely sick and tired of this kind of thing. He reluctantly turned around and we retraced our steps to the entrance, where a grand staircase sat just opposite the front door. And sure enough –"

" _Is that – oh my God."_

"- my ring was right there, mere inches from the stairs."

" _Alex, wait. Let me."_

"As soon as Strand retrieved my ring, he suggested that we leave."

" _It's an abandoned mansion in the middle of nowhere. There's a strong possibility that this place has squatters. I suggest we return in the morning, when there's a lower risk of us being attacked by homeless people."_

"So there you have it: a squatter tried to steal my ring but must have dropped it on his way up, and was too scared to go after it - according to Strand, at least. There's still the fact that the ring was on my finger one moment and gone the next, and I didn't feel a single thing. Is it even possible for someone to steal a ring right off somebody's finger without that person noticing it? Maybe there's a world-class thief hiding out in that mansion. Or maybe Simon wasn't joking about that door being open. We'll be right back –"

"Famous last words, Miss Reagan."

"Oh, hush. Do you want to do the next one?"

"What?"

"Come on, Strand. You've got a PhD, I'm sure you can handle some VO work."

"Well, if you insist... The Black Tapes will be right back after this break."

* * *

"If the past few years have taught me anything, it's that _safe_ is as much of a fantasy as the idea of Santa Claus: there's no such thing. It doesn't matter if you lock your doors, if you devote your life to religion, if you stay as far away as possible from anything remotely supernatural. Some things don't come in through doors – not the usual ones, anyway. Some things can't be scared off with a Latin verse and some holy water. And some things don't wait for you to find them – they hunt you down."

"So how do you go to sleep at night knowing that you're never safe, that your loved ones are always in danger? And worse: how do you sleep at night knowing that your children – innocent, helpless children you brought into this world and are responsible for – aren't off-limits to these creatures?"

"I've been asking myself that last one quite often recently, and I haven't found a satisfying answer. But I think this is the closest I'll ever get to it: you go to sleep at night knowing that you've done your best, that you did everything you could to protect them. You go to sleep at night knowing that at least you didn't bring those things back home with you or invite them into your house."

"I guess what I'm saying is… Doctor Strand and I are stepping down. This show has changed our lives in ways we never imagined, and it's impossible for us to leave it behind – so we won't. Nic has graciously agreed to let me stay on as co-producer, and Doctor Strand will take on more of a consulting role. But running after – or away from – strange things, confronting possibly-dangerous monks, taking endless road trips to meet with strangers – these are all things we'd like to take a break from. We don't know how long this arrangement will last. This world we've stumbled upon - it has a way of luring you back in whenever you try to leave. But Richard and I fully intend to stay away for as long as we possibly can. It might be nice to see things from Nic's perspective, for once. At least he gets to spend more time at home than on the road or camped out in motel rooms with questionable standards of cleanliness."

"The Black Tapes returns next season with more unsolvable mysteries – at least until technology catches up to us and helps us figure things out."

"For now: this is your host, Alex Reagan, signing off."

* * *

 **Hello there. I'm a bit uncertain about this one because it's my first time writing for this fandom and this is a new format for me. I rely heavily on internal monologues and over-explaining things because I suck at conveying things through dialogue but I feel like this was the only way to tell this story. Like all fanfic writers, I thrive on reviews so… this holiday season, do your part and feed a starving writer? Also, I am down for some serious fangirling so hit me up on Tumblr anytime! I'm esalvatore3.**

 **This is part of a holiday collection I put together for Christmas. If you enjoyed this fic and would like to read more, please check out the rest of the collection. Who knows, we might have some other fandoms in common!**

 **Merry Christmas and happy holidays!**

 _ **E Salvatore,**_

 _ **December 2015.**_


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